Cereals & Grains Association
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Science Cafés

Listed alphabetically. Sessions are preliminary and subject to change.

Science Cafe Current Status and Development Trends of Asian Products
Organizers: Larisa Cato, Department of Agriculture and Food WA, South Perth, WA, Australia; Gary Hou, Wheat Marketing Portland, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Sponsor: Asian Products Technical Committee
Scientific Initiatives: Biotechnology & Sustainability, Chemistry & Interactions, Health & Nutrition

A science café on the current status and development trends in the area of grain research, market development, and specific quality requirements for Asian products.

  • Current status and development trend of Asian products in China. C. E. WANG, Yihai Kerry Investments Co., Ltd., Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China
  • Current status and development trend of Asian products in Indonesia. M. Y. LIKUMAHWA, Bogasari Flour Mills, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Current status and development trend of Asian products in Brazil. C. J. STEEL, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas SP, Brazil
  • Review of Asian product research. D. HATCHER, Canadian Grain Commission, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Science Cafe Exploring the Differences Between Conventional and Modern Biotechnology-A Focus on Grains
Organizers: Brian Beecher, USDA ARS, Wheat Quality Lab, Pullman, WA, U.S.A.; Tandace Scholdberg, USDA-GIPSA, Kansas City, MO, U.S.A.;  Michael Giroux, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, U.S.A.
Sponsor: Biotechnology Division
Scientific Initiatives: Biotechnology & Sustainability, Quality & Analytical Methods

This science café will tentatively cover the following four topic areas. i) Traditional wheat breeding versus modern genetic engineering approaches. ii) Economic incentive for biotech wheat development. iii) Drought-tolerant wheat and/or novel biotech wheat traits in the R&D pipeline. iv) Genetic mapping for grain quality traits.

  • Mapping of quality traits in soft white wheat. C. MORRIS, USDA-ARS, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, U.S.A.
  • Improving nontransgenic crop varieties using plant transformation approaches. M. P. SCOTT, USDA-ARS, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, U.S.A.
  • Advances in barley transgenic traits. R. CHIBBAR, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
  • Molecular and genetic characterization of polyphenol oxidase genes in wheat. B. BEECHER, USDA-ARS, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, U.S.A.

Science Cafe Is It Sweet Enough? A Dialogue on Sugar Reduction
Organizer: Andrew McPherson, Kraft Foods, Glenview, IL, U.S.A.
Sponsors: Carbohydrate Division, Nutrition Division
Scientific Initiatives: Chemistry & Interactions, Health & Nutrition, Ingredients & Innovations

Many food companies, ingredients manufacturers, and regulatory agencies are actively pursuing sugar reduction. This goal of this science café is to discuss the public health need for sugar reduction, ingredients/systems to enable sugar reduction, and strategies around sugar reduction. How does food formulation help the consumer?

  • Sugars and obesity: Broadening our perspective. K. GREAVES, Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, MI, U.S.A.
  • Ingredient options for sugar reduction. E. SHINSATO, Corn Products International, Westchester, IL, U.S.A.
  • Combination approach using high-potency sweeteners and bulking agents for effective sugar reduction in foods. A. EVANS, Tate and Lyle, Decatur, IL, U.S.A.
  • Practical considerations in caloric sugar reduction. D. VELLUCCI, Kraft Foods, Tarrytown, NY, U.S.A

Science Cafe Leveraging Innovation, Cost Management, and Sustainability for Profitability
Organizer: Rajen Mehta, SunOpta Ingredients Group, Chelmsford, MA, U.S.A.
Sponsor: Nutrition Division
Scientific Initiative: Ingredients & Innovations

Innovation, continuous improvement, productivity improvement, and cost management are key tools used by industry and academic institutions to improve profitability and deliver value-added products to both internal and external customers. This science café will focus on processes that companies use to innovatively reduce costs to improve profitability using these tools. We will discuss some of these continuous improvement tools and then speakers drawn from diverse segments of the food industry will discuss ideas and share successes to achieve cost efficiencies and productivity improvement.

  • Leveraging continuous improvement and other tools for profitability and cost reduction. R. MEHTA, SunOpta Ingredients Group, Chelmsford, MA, U.S.A.
  • Kaizen usage to drive continuous improvement. L. MURRAY, Bunge North America, St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.
  • Science and technology insights to reduce costs and deliver sustainability. J. KEPPLINGER, Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, MI, U.S.A.
  • Challenges and opportunities in improving profitability by managing costs. E. ARNDT, ConAgra Foods Inc., Omaha, NE, U.S.A.
  • Value matters: Case studies in value optimization without compromise using advanced texturizers. Y. DAR, Corn Products International/National Starch, Bridgewater, NJ, U.S.A.
  • Use of statistical process control to improve manufacturing process performance. K. GARDNER, eMRI, Saline, MI, U.S.A.

Science Cafe Protein Quality in Product Developement: Regulatory Considerations
Organizer: Viswas Ghorpade, Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, MI, U.S.A.
Sponsor: Protein Division
Scientific Initiative: Health & Nutrition

In the 2011 Protein Enrichment in Cereal Products symposium, there were lots of discussions on protein quality and its nutritional aspects in product development. Many members had confusion about calculations of protein for superior claims and regulatory aspects of assessing this requirement. PDCASS and PER calculations and methods used to make these claims seems important to many industry members. This session will focus on protein quality, assessing methods, and regulatory framework.

  • Protein quality: Methodology and benefits in grain-based foods. K. GREAVES, Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, MI, U.S.A.
  • U.S. regulatory perspective-Insights into PDCAAS. D. MCCOLL, Hyman, Phelps, & McNamara, P.C., Washington, DC, U.S.A.
  • Protein quality: Canada perspective-Is there movement toward the use of PDCAAS? L. DIFRANCESCO, Source! Nutrition®, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • FAO/WHO perspective-Upper limit of 1.0 for PDCAAS or unlimited. C. KRUGER, SPHERIX, Bethesda, MD, U.S.A.
  • Grain proteins-Combining incomplete proteins and amino acids for improved protein quality. J. M. JONES, St. Catherine University, Arden Hills, MN, U.S.A.

Science Cafe Statistical Tools Supporting Food Safety, Regulatory, and Processing
Organizer: Michelle Manderfeld, General Mills, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
Sponsor: Statistical Advisory Technical Committee
Scientific Initiative: Engineering & Processing, Food Safety & Regulatory, Quality & Analytical Methods

Statistics provide underlying support for many aspects of food development and production. Listen and interact with speakers from industry and government research as they share a variety of statistical tools for food safety risk assessment, managing ingredient costs, labeling compliance, and process monitoring.

  • Using statistical models to understand food safety risk. Presenter to be announced
  • Labeling compliance: Overage & impact on cost of goods. R. ROBERTSON and R. STACKOW, Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, MI, U.S.A.
  • Ongoing process monitoring. T. MCKAMEY, Silliker Inc., Madison, WI, U.S.A.
  • Measurement close to zero. P. WEHLING, General Mills, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
  • Sampling applications in research and quality. T. C. NELSEN, Independent Statistical Consultant, Port Byron, IL, U.S.A.